Twitter recently blew up with posts wondering about the feline fascination with taped squares on the ground. An animal behavior expert explains it’s not magic that draws Fluffy to the #CatSquare.
For a long time it was not believed that animals were even capable of feeling pain, let alone complex emotions. We now know that is far from the truth.
Realizing that others’ minds hold different thoughts, feelings and knowledge than your own was thought to be something only people could do. But evidence is accumulating that apes, too, have ‘theory of mind.’
Older matriarchs lead elephant society. But they’re also the primary targets of ivory poachers. When these socially critical individuals are killed, what happens to the rest of the group?
Scott Turner, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
They’re the soil-builders that allow Africa’s arid savannas to be lush grasslands. What do they do inside their huge mounds – and how does a collective mind allow them to do it?
Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles